Cambodia expects to regain its status of major rice exporter in the region beside the Mekong River in 2010, on basis of more and more surplus production, national media said on Tuesday.

The kingdom has managed to sell rice to Germany, Malaysia, France and African countries, and is now negotiating to start such trade with the Philippines and some Middle East countries, Chinese- language daily newspaper the Commercial News quoted officials of the Cambodian Mills Association as saying.

Meanwhile, the government is urging rice farmers to plant twice in dry season and also twice in rainy season in order to boost yields, according to the association.

Farmers used to plant once in dry season and also once in rainy season, with an average output of 2.5 tons of rice per hectare.

In 2008, Cambodia harvested 7.17 million tons of rice, with over two million tons for export, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries.

Before the 1970s, Cambodia was major exporter of rice within the region, but was later surpasses by Vietnam and Thailand as the civil war almost ravaged its agricultural production.